October 26, 1982

Once, an athlete was revered by the American public, placed on the same pedestal reserved for generals, Medal of Honor winners, movie stars, aviators and more recently astronauts. But to many people - historians, sociologists, educators, and older sports fans - there has been a major change in the athlete's image. Affluence, in many cases the result of bitter collectivebargaining victories by the various player associations, has brought a parade of agents, lawyers and financial advisers into the locker room, shattering the perceived innocence that many fans attached to athletes. In addition, a significant number of athletes, through bad business planning or bad luck, or through plain anti-social behavior, have wound up with their names on police blotters, and even in jail, with increasing frequency. All this has led to a feeling of dissatisfaction among some older fans, who sense the change more than their children do. But that dissatisfaction has not kept fans from ball parks and arenas. While professional basketball and hockey have had some attendance problems in recent years, baseball and pro football generally have not. Nevertheless, owners, commissioners and players say they are aware of the fans' feelings and the circumstances that have led to changes in the personalities of the modern athlete.

The General Motors Corporation today reported net income of $129.4 million for the third quarter, but this was the result of nonautomotive operations. In the third quarter of 1981, by contrast, G.M. had a loss of $468.2 million. The profit came from an income tax credit of $151.5 million and earnings of $214.7 million from the General Motors Acceptance Corporation and Motors Insurance Company, its auto financing operation. The manufacture and sale of cars and trucks produced an operating loss of $53.6 million.

Three sophisticated aircraft, two American and one the product of an Anglo-French collaboration, are competing for a multimillion-dollar French contract that may be the United States aviation industry's last big military sales opportunity in Europe for some time. The contract is to supply France with airborne radar, which would give advance warning of attacking planes, missiles, ships and tanks. The need for such so-called Eye-in-the-Sky planes, military experts say, has been underscored by the recent wars in Lebanon and the Falkland Islands. In Lebanon, the Israelis used airborne radar to guide their fighters, which shot down more than 100 Syrian MIG's, and to locate antiaircraft missile bases, which were then destroyed.

In the beginning it was just Toyota and Datsun. Then Honda earned a place in the American automobile market. Others followed: Mazda, Subaru, Isuzu. This fall Mitsubishi, one of Japan's industrial giants, will try to carve out a segment in the increasingly crowded field of Japanese companies selling cars in the United States. It will not be easy. For one thing, all the Japanese companies are operating under informal - but strict - restraints on the number of cars they can ship to this country. And the proliferation of Japanese brands, along with the increasing number of models offered by each company, makes it more difficult for a new entrant to establish an identity.

The Dow Jones industrial average, the best-known measure of stock market prices, plunged 36.33 points yesterday as concern mounted that the decline in interest rates might be ending. The point drop was the second largest in the history of the Dow, but analysts were quick to say that comparisons were misleading because yesterday's drop represented a much smaller percentage than did the record plunge of 53 years ago. ''The failure of the Federal Reserve to cut the discount rate was the No.1 reason in the hit parade affecting stock prices today,'' said Jack Baker, head of equity trading at the First Boston Corporation. He was referring to widespread expectations that the nation's central bank would announce another reduction in the rate it charges on loans to banks and financial institutions.